Devil's Garden Hike - Arches National Park

On Saturday January 7^th I traveled to Arches National Park near Moab, UT to go on a popular day hike called the Devil’s Garden.  I arrived at Arches mid morning and checked the weather at the visitor center.  They told me there was a chance for rain or snow.  I decided that I had already come this far and I was prepared for a chance of precipitation.

Edward Abby would wish I didn't drive, but I always enjoy the drive through Arches, its not too long and the view from the road is spectacular.

I then took off up the trail. The Devil’s Garden Loop is about 7 miles round trip.  It was January so I didn’t expect there to be huge crowds of people, but there were still about 15-20 people milling about at the trail head. The weather was partially cloudy and temperatures in the upper 40s.

Landscape Arch

I followed a very well maintained “developed” trail until I came across Landscape Arch.  Landscape Arch is the longest arch in the park (Rainbow Bridge National Monument at Glen Canyon is the longest in the world).  I will just say a few words about each Arch, my un-poetic words and untrained photography really do not give justice to most of the things I come across out west.  Landscape is nested in a hillside that has eroded; the evidence of recent erosion can be seen below the arch.  A sign at the view point explains that we are not to go any farther because pieces of the arch are still falling. 

Partition Arch

Navajo Arch (from inside it)

After snapping a photo I continued up the trail, which was now a “primitive” trail.  I had to follow cairns up some slick rock to reach the first junction in the trail.  I chose to check out the two side trails that each lead out to an arch.  Within a half mile I was able to get up close and personal with Navajo and Partition Arches.  Partition Arch was named for the division between the two holes.  Navajo Arch was pretty spectacular.  As I approached it, it didn’t seem like much, but different from the other arches I had seen, this one was more of a doorway into a canyon that resembled a 200 foot wind tunnel. 

Looking out on the hike at the Lasal Mountains 

I returned to the main trail and continued out to Double O Arch and Dark Angel.  I had to cover more ground to get to these features.  While hiking out to them I observed some weather moving in over the Lasal Mountains in the distance.  I made note of it and continued.  As I hiked along some of the ledges and other rock formations I thought how much it would suck to fall and get stuck.  I wasn’t really worried about me, I packed to be prepared.  However, I saw a lot of people hiking in street shoes and wearing only a hooded sweatshirt.  I guess that this is normal for park visitors to not prepare for the activity they are doing.

Double O Arch

I finally arrived at the Double O Arch.  It was pretty cool, one on top of the other.  I had to wait a while to take a photo, because some folks had climbed on top of the Arch.  I was a bit annoyed with these guys, there are signs everywhere saying stay off the rock features, if they fell I would be obligated to provide EMS, and it was just rude to myself and the other hikers who had to wait to get a photo while a couple of people played on them. 

Dark Angel

Anyways I got the shot and hiked out to the last feature, Dark Angel.  Dark Angel is a spire that juts out of the ground randomly.  It was cool; I didn’t sense any dark forces at work there, just a crazy guy hiding in the bushes. 

Snow Falling on an Arches Sunset

After that I hiked back with a father and son who had been exploring the area for a few days.  We also stopped at the Windows trying to get a sunset photo, but the snow had other plans.  We had some good discussions and ended up grabbing some food in Moab post hike.  Overall the hike was good, it is one I would do again.

My thoughts on the shooting at Mt. Rainier

As many already know, on January 1, 2012 the National Park Service Lost one of our fellow Ranger’s in the line of duty.  Ranger Margaret Anderson was shot while attempting to stop a fleeing vehicle at Mt. Rainier National Park. 

As an active Law Enforcement Ranger and member of the close-nit NPS family this incident hit close to home. When I first heard about it, my initial reaction was to play out in my mind how to organize a response if I was working there at the time.  I then thought about how this would affect the staff at Mt. Rainier, Margaret’s family and the NPS as a whole. 

I should take a minute to talk about what I mean by the NPS family.  When working in remote areas, living in government housing areas, most Park Service employees only have their coworkers as neighbors, and friends to socialize with.  This means that after that search and rescue call that everyone worked on; we all go home and then gather at one ranger’s house for beers and a communal meal. We have to rely on each other 200% on duty and then again after work is over.  Rangers in the NPS typically move around the country working at different parks throughout their careers, building a very tight network. So when I say NPS family, I am speaking very literally. 

I personally never got a chance to meet Margaret, but some of my close coworkers did know her quite well.  While the events at Mt. Rainier were unfolding I know there were hundreds of phone calls between Rangers across the country consoling each other.  The outpouring of support in the days following that incident was as comforting as can be expected under those circumstances. 

The thoughts that I take away from this incident are those of pride and sorrow.  I felt horrible for Margaret’s family, including her two children, and for all of her friends and coworkers across the country.  But as I sat in my ranger uniform streaming the memorial serivce video at the District Ranger Station here in Bullfrog; I understood 100% why she loved the job she did, and the selfless action she took to stop a killer in an area of the park known as Paradise.  I can’t remember which important person in a suit it was that said it during the service “the Park Ranger is a noble profession”. 

There is an old quote from Stephen Mather, First Director of the National Park Service “If a trail is to be blazed, send a Ranger, if an animal is floundering in the snow, send a Ranger, if a bear is in a hotel, send a Ranger, if a fire threatens a forest, send a Ranger, and if someone needs to be saved, send a Ranger.” That was said in the early 1900s and is still true today.  However, in our current society Mather would need to add a few lines such as “if a drug smuggler is in the backcountry, if thousands of protesters show up at the gates, if a drunk crashes their car, and if a gunman is on the loose, send a ranger”

I am no longer surprised when a shocked visitor asks me “Ranger, why do you have a gun on your hip”.  In the mind of the average park visitor the park is a special, almost a sacred place to retreat from the troubles of the world.  I think that when people can ask me that, it means that the sacredness of the National Parks still exists at some level.  The incident at Mt. Rainier has brought to light for many how such horrible things can happen in such great places. 

I hope that while the nation now knows of the sacrifice that one Ranger gave to protect the people and resources of Mt. Rainer, there should be comfort in knowing that across the country hundreds more Rangers are there to make everyone’s stay a safe and enjoyable one.

Rest in Peace Ranger Anderson, we’ve got the watch from here.